Jil's smile was a facade, a mask to hide the intense frustration and anger he felt towards Haste. He had been playing the role of a doting elder brother for too long, trying to discover his sibling's power without raising any suspicions.
But seeing Haste's nonchalant attitude and lack of effort in improving himself only fueled Jil's contempt towards him. He couldn't understand how Haste could waste his potential like this. It was infuriating to see someone with such talent being so careless about it.
Jil's mind was filled with thoughts of revenge as he imagined his next course of action. He couldn't wait to see Haste suffer and pay for his laziness. He was determined to teach his brother a lesson, no matter the cost.
However, as much as Jil wanted to act on his anger, he knew he had to bide his time. He couldn't risk revealing his true feelings and intentions towards Haste. He needed to keep up the act of a concerned and loving brother, at least until he figured out Haste's power.
So he forced himself to keep the sad smile on his face and repeated his earlier words, "I won't pry further if you don't want me to, so don't worry."
As Jil walked away, Haste remained oblivious to his brother's true feelings, and Jil couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. He knew he had to be patient and wait for the right moment to strike. After all, Haste would surely use his new skill sooner or later. And it will be at this moment that he'll strike.
"Then should we continue?" Jil smiled once again at his brother.
"Actually..." Haste hesitated to ask. But in the end, he still wanted to see. "Can you show me how you fight, please?" Jil tilted his head to the side, not understanding what his brother meant by this. "What I want to see is how you use your animancy power. Maybe I'll be able to learn a few things by watching you."
"Oh, well I don't mind." Jil turned around and saw a horse horn running toward them. "Here I go."
Jil clapped his hand, and translucent hands suddenly appeared below the horse horn, trapping its leg.
The monster was taken aback by Jil's unexpected move. It struggled to break free from the translucent hands, but to no avail. Jil calmly watched as the horse horn writhed in pain, its eyes filled with fear and confusion.
Haste watched in amazement as his brother effortlessly controlled the monster. He had never seen Jil use his animancy power before, and the display of strength and control was truly impressive.
Then, he clapped his finger, and the legs of the horse horn exploded under the hands' pressure, and the monster died shortly after. Haste approached his brother, newfound respect in his eyes.
"Is this enough?" Jil turned back to Haste and asked.
"I never knew you were so powerful," Haste said, genuinely impressed.
Jil smiled, but Haste's comment irritated him a little. What does he mean by he didn't know? Of course, he was strong. Sure not as much as others, but he has still a great talent and an amazing power.
"Well anyway, we came here for you, not me. So are you ready now?"
"Yes!" Haste smiled as his motivation shoot through the sky. He was ready to continue fighting to get even stronger.
"Then fight this." Jil smiled as he pointed behind him. It was three horse horn that was running toward them at full speed.
"What do you mean? I won't be able to win if I go against them, you know?" Haste's eyebrows twitched.
"I'm sure you'll manage to do it. And even if you aren't capable of doing it, I'll do it in your stead, don't worry."
The fact that Jil kept smiling irritated Haste a little, but he has another problem in front of him right now.
He had a lot of difficulties earlier killing a single horse horn, so three will be way too difficult for him.
He took a deep breath and started running toward them as well. If he could at least take one down like this, he would gladly face them head-on.
He immediately used his time manipulation on him, increasing his speed exponentally. He was so fast that he was in front of the horses in an instant and killed one of them in two due to the extreme momentum he gain from the speed.
However, as always, he stumbled a few times and started sliding on the ground because he couldn't control himself.
'Are you kidding me?' Jil thought in astonishment. 'How in the world did he manage to go so fast that it almost looked like he teleported? It doesn't make any sense. He wasn't as fast as this earlier.' Jil started to think quickly for any type of plausible answer, but he found none. 'Is it his new ability? Does it increase his speed even further?'
While Jil was having all types of thoughts in his head, Haste stood up again and was ready to face the monsters again. However, this time, they were a lot more cautious.
It was quite normal. After all, one of their friends died so quickly that it looked like death descended upon it in an instant.
Haste knew he couldn't rely on his time manipulation ability alone. He needed to come up with a new strategy, something that would allow him to take down the remaining two horse horns without getting hurt.
He took a few steps back, analyzing the situation carefully. He noticed that the horse horns were circling him, trying to flank him from all sides. Haste realized that he needed to split them up and fight them one by one.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm his mind. Then, he opened his eyes and focused on one of the horse horns. He used his time manipulation on him again to increase his overall speed and tried to predict the monster's movement. The next moment, Haste reappeared by the monster's side.
Unfortunately, the horse horn managed to react in time because only its abdomen was hurt.
The monster tried to kick Haste, but the latter was already far away, eating the ground.
"Argh, seriously it's annoying." Haste said to himself as he spat the dirt from his mouth. "I need to change the way I'm using my technique again."
Learning a technique took time. A lot of time. So even though Haste was a fast learner, he still hadn't found all the possibilities of his skill.
As he was thinking, the monsters came back to him.
He dodged their attacks with ease, using his time manipulation to his advantage. He landed a few blows on the already wounded horse horn, weakening it considerably. Then, he repeated the process with the second horse horn, and soon enough, both monsters were lying on the ground, defeated.
However, even though Haste won without sustaining any injuries, he wasn't happy at all as he didn't find what he wanted. He was about to find a new path to walk on with his ability, but the fight ended way too soon.
Jil watched the entire battle, amazed by his brother's newfound skills. He had never seen Haste fight like this before, and it was clear that he had improved a lot in a short amount of time.
Haste walked over to Jil, panting heavily. "Did you see that?" He asked, grinning from ear to ear. He was still happy nonetheless. Especially since he managed to level up again. It was a really good idea to come and train here.
"I did. I'm impressed," Jil replied, a fake smile on his face. He was proud of his brother on the surface, but his mind was still racing with one question after the other.